edge9001

I was just there saturday. knife guild had a hammer in at trackrock campground, next on is I think in march. your only about 1 1/2 hours from me.

mtns of n ga? where exactly are you, I am in chatsworth area, so nearby are calhoun, dalton, ringgold, ellijay and surrounding areas. maybe we can help each other in the future. while I do not have a forge for sale, I can make them or if you are nearby, I can help you make your own. I have discovered forges are not hard to make, just hard to understand and tune, when you have more to learn. as for anvils I agree with mattbower, as well as others, a large chunk o steel will do for an anvil until you can find a better one. as has been said manytime on IFI most of the world doesn't use london pattern anvils, infact I dont. I use a rail road car coupling knuckle. I have yet to find a london pattern or "real" that i both like and can afford.

the first and second layers welded 1/2 way and, the top only welded a small portion. the third layer that didn't weld well was originally an old flathead screw driver so it might have been a Cr allow, I don't know. this is my first attemp at welding that got the stock to a welding temp.

I finally got my charcoal brakedrum forge to weld. with only on interestig issue. I took the tips of several of my broken knives. (oh the joys of projects gone wrong) I stacked them together and tacked the broken edges together. I got the forge to welding heat. the metal was sparking pretty well. I gently tapped the layers together and let it cool. I used no flux, two layers were the sanded a bit from black, the third layer was rusted and i sanded it a bit too when all was said and done, i got a weld that was the entire width of the layers but only the first inch from the tack weld actually welded on one layer, and 1/2 of the remaining 2 layers welded my original billet was only 3 layers tringle-ish shape about 2 inchesx2 1/2 inches. so the first 2 layers welded 1.2 way up and the third layer only welded about an inch. anyone have any idea why only part of it welded? would the rust on the third layer have kept it from welding?

There was one smith in an IFI shirt and his friend working together, as next to them a younger smith working on teaching his friend. these are the couple of guys I spent most of my day with. I now you four told me your names when we met, but like i said my geriatric memry prevents me from rememmbering. WHO WERE YOU!! lol

ok guys, unfortunatly I am very bad with names and I have a geriatric memory at 30. I met a few of you at the hammerin in blairsville this past week end. I know randy was there, but who were the rest of you. I'm sorry I can't remember, I remember your faces just not your names.

I have two forges. one is a propane forge i bought from the original builder. the second one is my solid fuel forge. my solid fuel forge is a brake drum forge. mad efrom the brake drum off a ford van. I have yet to find a need for a larger solid fuel forge yet.

like you said short answer is yes get both. in my opinion the more variety you have the better, but hammer control is more important than how many hammers you have I have a 3# cross peen hammer, and both large and small ballpeen hammer. as well as a 32oz machinist hammer.

hmm, looks like a tool, and i was made from steel. yep that would be tool steel. lol

looking good

where did the picture go. it was on here a few hours ago.

ok guys forget the bug spray, get the hammer!! Nice job!

small auctions, and farm/feed that host auctions. if there is a lot of useoless items and rusty stuff, hang around. if not it's 50/50

what do you mean by the anvil having church windows?

that seems to the the answer to thse question posed by this thread. only for a forge running soley off of gasoline, I recommend perhaps using an old car fuel tank instead of the urn. with a little enginuity(spelling??) you could also rig up the original fuel pump, float valves, and fuel gauges and have a safe way to monitor the fuel levels. if used indoors i would out it near a wall and mount the tank outside for safety. just my 2 cents

Sam Salvati love the quote. many have different opinions on the matter but me, I will have a hand on my ar-15, the other straping on the pistol and then grabbing the bug out bag...i dare anyone to kick in my front door. no telling what they might find staring back at them. AR, 9mm, grenades.....home made howitzer, its just hard to tell. might even be my hammer and a glowing slug o steel.

if any of you remember my last knife. the deeply curved blade I put a cord wrapped handle on. it was made from the same stock. I have a fairly long piece of this stock and I cut this knife off if it. I got it down to a good thin blade fairly easy with the gas forge and a hand hammer. also quenched in a n iced brine it has made a nice blade, of pakistani comercial blade quality. You all kniow those blade, the cheap little available everywhere knives. it just takes time to do it by hand, and well for me learning is something that takes time anyway so doing it by hand allows me to get a better feel for the steel and I can't blame anyone or anything if it is screwed up, ecxept for me and my learning curve. If i were to use a striker or a power hammer then I would be able to blame the machine or the help if my blade didn't turn out the way I want.

as the title says a first sword is coming, and i have not got enough experience to try it. Like i've seen several time, knives are easier than swords and niether should be attempted until you have experience with the basics. I just can't wait any longer. soon as I get my propane refilled I'm am going to attempt a sword. I have a piece of 1x 1/2 mild steel that is just long enough. I think mild will be best as to reduce the cost of what will most likely be a failure. I hav ejust got the itch that needs scratching, so I guess we will soon see just how good or bad I am at this point. gotta start somewhere right. now to settle on a design. I will post pictures along the way.

yet another movie reference...bruce almighty. gotta love it

autions are amazing things. you can find something you want and no one else either knows what it is or wants it, and you are the only bidder. it those cases your opening bid never gets challenged. and we all know you start bidding at an outrageously low bid. on the other hand there is an anvil on pristene shape with all of us blacksmiths at the auction and it ends in a bidding war. at tht point it is no longer about a good deal it is about the bragging rights of winning the the coveted item. Ive seen a large drill press in excellent condition go for $40 to a kidas well as a small china made tea set go for over $100 to a little old lady. auctions are amazing and sickening at the same time.

compared to mine thats amazing! heck thats amazing anyway. great job! I have yet to try a second one. I have a hammer head ready though. my first ballpeen hawk was made in the fire of my first brakedrum forge, and I was still getting the workings of it down. now I think my next one will be made in my gas forge.

that was my second guess. I love the old movies.

watched max max one too many times?

yes unfortunatly it does get a bit warm in those summer months. I have yet to see during winter months. I have to shore up the roof before it sees snow or i will not have one. I agree with the subterranien shop, if only i could afford to build it. I live on a giant clay ball so all i really need to do is dig out a huge hole and then light a fire in it...hehehe then I'll have a nice ceramic bowl for a shop. (don't nail any pictures to the wall) hmmm 1% humidity, i haven't seen that low since iraq. here in goergia, we have a "low humidity" when it is only raining softly. swamp coolers down here are when you have a case of beer on ice and your in the swamps. instead of those things you guys use

lookin good, wish i could get all those barrels I would love to have all of that storage space.